Home Interviews <strong>Exclusive Interview with Charlotte Francis-Empowering little princesses to become Queens</strong>

Exclusive Interview with Charlotte Francis-Empowering little princesses to become Queens

14
<strong>Exclusive Interview with Charlotte Francis-Empowering little princesses to become Queens</strong>

Charlotte Francis is a maths teacher, founder, and creator of Biankha and Friends. Charlotte was inspired to take the entrepreneurial route in creating her dolls when her daughter fell out of love with her natural hair after starting school. Ms.Francis wasn’t able to find a suitable black doll to empower her daughter so decided to make her own. Charlotte’s doll company aims to empower young girls to embrace who they are, know their true history, and have high aspirations.

A-CHOICES: Charlotte, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both as a maths teacher and founder of Biankha and Friends.

CHARLOTTE: Looking back, I really believe our journeys are destined because none of what I’ve achieved was on ‘my life plan’.  I qualified as a secondary maths teacher in 2009 after completing my degree in psychology and deciding that I definitely wanted to work with children as that was where my passion was.   I kind of fell into teaching and within a few years had become Head of my department, which I currently still am.  I am very passionate about empowering young girls and I guess being the person I wish I had growing up, hence why five years ago I also started a mentoring group called ‘The Young Queens Project’ at my school where I offer a safe space for the young women in my care, where we discuss topics such as healthy relationships, financial literacy, breaking generational cycles, planning for the future, black history and much more.  It was very obvious to me that many of these girls are hurting/ damaged due to deep-rooted self-identity issues that weren’t addressed in their formative years.

In 2016 my usually confident 5/6 daughter returned home from school and began expressing a dislike for who she was.  She mentioned things such as ‘why can’t I be white?’  and ‘I don’t like my hair, I want it straight and yellow’.  As her mum, I instantly questioned where I had gone wrong and after contacting my daughter’s school with little support from them I knew I had to take matters into my own hands.

I made a lot of changes at home such as putting up artwork to celebrate black women and their natural hair, diversifying her books, we attended events celebrating afro hair and I enrolled Cali into a pan-African school which she adored.  I also naively went to some toy shops to purchase some black dolls and diverse toys, but couldn’t find any that represented my daughter and celebrated natural afro hair.  Feeling slightly disheartened, we left the toy stores and went to the cinema to watch Moana, and what happened during that screening I can only describe as divine communication.  I was bombarded with images and ideas about what I needed to do moving forward and they were so strong that as soon as we returned home I had to put pen to paper so that I didn’t forget anything.  Cali asked me ‘Mummy what are you doing?’  My reply was ‘ We are going to create our own black dolls and mummy is drawing them’.Cali asked whether she could help, so we sat down together and sketched our first dolls.

It took two years of research, design, and manufacturing meetings before we had our final product in our hands. We named our doll Biankha after the Egyptian ‘Ankh’ to incorporate black history into who she is.  I run the company with my now 12-year-old daughter and we have since expanded our product line with school accessories, and merchandise and are in mid-production with a pilot episode for an animation series centered around Biankha.

It has been very clear to me that if we heal/ prevent from the early years then our young people stand a better chance of reaching their true potential.  This starts with their self-worth, identity, and sense of belonging. This is what Biankha helps with.

A-CHOICES: What’s a typical day like as a maths teacher?

CHARLOTTE: Being a maths teacher in summary is hard! Lol!  IT truly is the most draining, but rewarding job and you truly have to have the stamina and tenacity to get through each day.  No two days are the same and in one school day you are often required to be a teacher, parent, coach, counsellor, nurse, disciplinarian, social worker, feeder and so much more, whilst giving outstanding, engaging lessons, whilst ensuring every child makes progress in your lesson despite the many external factors at play.  My day also doesn’t end when I leave the school premises because I then go home to work on my tutoring business and Biankha brand.  It is literally non-stop and not uncommon for me to be working 13- 16 hour days.

A-CHOICES: Describe your job in five words?

CHARLOTTE: Busy, stressful, rewarding, emotional, and testing

A-CHOICES: What part of your job gives you the most satisfaction?

Charlotte: With teaching the part that gives me the most satisfaction is hearing from students that have left me to hear their gratitude and the amazing things they go on to achieve.  Also the little things you can do day to day for those students that have a very tough time outside of school.

With my tutoring role, I get so much satisfaction from hearing that students ‘now get it’ and that their confidence has grown tenfold.  Feeling like I have assisted in that is an amazing feeling.  

With my Biankha brand, I can’t explain the feeling of being at an event, a little girl noticing our stall and her eyes lighting up when she realises what/ who Biankha is. The excitement and awe in their eyes often get me so emotional.

A-CHOICES: Would you say that your passion is helping others to achieve their ultimate goals?

CHARLOTTE: I would definitely say this is true.  Sometimes it is a detriment to myself, but my need to want to help others is what has led me to the positions I am in now.  I enjoy making a difference, even if it is only slightly.

A-CHOICES: What are the challenges?

CHARLOTTE: The challenges are huge if I’m honest.  Juggling so many hats can be tough, especially when I am so conscious of also being a present mummy to my daughter.  Also as a single mum, it is so tough trying to get that balance, but at the same time, I believe being a single parent to be my main driving force in wanting to be successful.  Another challenge I have faced is the fact that I have to push myself through things I find very difficult.  Being naturally introverted and shy I have found it very challenging to put myself ‘out there’ in my roles and speak without reservation.  It doesn’t come naturally and if I’m honest I think I will always find it difficult, but as they say, nothing grows in your comfort zone.  As an empath, another thing I have found very difficult is human nature at times.  It has been a learning experience in knowing not everyone has your best interests at heart at times and trying to navigate and swallow that has been difficult.

A-CHOICES: Tell us about five issues facing the teaching sector today.

CHARLOTTE: I actually belong to a group of 100k+ teachers trying to leave the profession.  We have a real problem on our hands, which hasn’t been given the platform it needs.  In my opinion, the five biggest issues facing the teaching sector today are:

Retention – there are teachers leaving in their droves 

Undervalued – the profession is very undervalued by all stakeholders but is arguably one of the most important jobs

Underfunded- the lack of funding is really impacting our children and teachers alike, with departments not being funded appropriately.

Work-life balance – teachers have none and the expectations for teachers to not have a life outside of their classroom has really impacted the mental health and stress levels of many teachers.

Behaviour – I have been teaching for 16 years now and in the last couple of years I’ve seen drastic deterioration in the behaviour and increase of diverse needs of our young people with little solutions to deal with it.  

Processed with VSCO with s2 preset

A-CHOICES: What advice would you give to other aspiring teachers?

CHARLOTTE: If you are aspiring to become a teacher I would say be prepared for a very emotional roller-coaster.  You become so invested in the young people in front of you that it’s impossible to leave your job ‘at work’. I would say that you need to set clear boundaries and stick to them in order to retain some sort of life outside of the education sector.

A-CHOICES: Tell our readers more about Biankha ?

CHARLOTTE: Biankha is where my dreams and creativity get come alive! She is the reason why my daughter now loves her hair and who she is.  Our Biankha brand is something I’m probably most proud of because what we have created has been done completely independently with no funding to back us.  Every detail of our brand has been thought of so carefully.  For example, our purple and gold branding have been chosen because of the colours regal roots and opulence.  We want all children to know that they come from royalty and a regal people.  Biankha was designed by myself and Cali, aka mini CEO to reflect the children playing with her and to represent them in a world that doesn’t always show that they belong.  Biankha is a chance for me to relive my childhood in a way that I would have felt included and accepted.  It was a way to show Cali that she mattered despite what she was being told at school.  Biankha also shows little girls that you can be multi-faceted and tick more than one box on the sheet.  We are also so excited about our animation that we have put our life, soul 

A-CHOICES: What do you think it takes to be a successful entrepreneur?

CHARLOTTE: It takes heaps of faith and tenacity to keep going because there are so many lows on the entrepreneurial journey.  The ability to keep picking yourself up is a must and your willingness to learn new things along the way.  One thing that has really helped me along the way is forward planning (which I’ll admit I’ve fallen out of sync with recently).  There is something in breaking big goals down into actionable smaller tasks to ensure the goals are met.  This has really worked for me.  You also have to be flexible especially in the times you are living in.  Things are forever changing, especially in the online space and keeping up with this can be a job in itself.  I’d also say don’t be afraid to ask for help.  There are people out there who are willing to share their knowledge.

A-CHOICES: Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your dolls? How can people support Biankha and Friends?

CHARLOTTE: Our next big event will be with Biankha led by Cali, at the Ultra education, Winter fair, kidpreneur event at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 3rd December.  We greatly appreciate any support that can be given.  This can include: purchasing from us, sharing us with your followers, leaving reviews, engaging with our posts on social media, shouting us out, or connecting us with anyone you think could help on our journey.

A-CHOICES:Would you say the brand’s mission is to educate young children about their true history and taking pride in their culture and communities?

CHARLOTTE: Yes definitely and we try to ensure this message is portrayed through all of our products and events.  In everything we do, we aim to over-deliver whilst delivering our message.

A-CHOICES: Many young black girls are being bullied by classmates about their natural hair, Would you say that westernised standards of beauty still dictate how black women should wear their hair in certain situations.?

CHARLOTTE: I think things are slowly changing with regard to natural hair but we still have a long way to go.  I think educating children from a very young regarding natural hair will eradicate the ignorance we see in many adults and workplaces.  Once natural hair is no longer the focus for being different, the sooner the focus can return to what is important; the person and their credentials.  It is nice to see more representation now in adverts, tv, media, etc however that doesn’t take away from the deep-rooted trauma many women carry about their hair.  Unfortunately, there is still much to unravel and hurt to heal.  I believe there is much more hope for our children.

A-CHOICES: It is generally believed that black women with natural hairstyles are less likely to get job interviews.

CHARLOTTE: Although we would like to think that discrimination doesn’t occur in the interview process, I think everyone in the black community knows this just isn’t true.  There are many of us that still feel like if we conform to westernised standards of beauty, we are more likely ‘to be picked’.  Until these processes are completely anonymised, there will unfortunately always be prejudice and discrimination made.  It’s one of the reasons I didn’t put my picture out for my tutoring business for a very long time (I’ve been tutoring for 15 years, but didn’t put my face out there until about 1 or 2 years ago).

A-CHOICES: How would you describe yourself?

CHARLOTTE: An introvert who romanticises everything lol.  I’m super driven and love without reservation.  I can be a dreamer but will do everything in my power to turn that dream into reality.  I can be extremely shy, especially around new people.  I’m also very maternal and feel most at ease in the host/ giving role. I’d describe myself as a quiet creative with many layers.

A-CHOICES: What are your favourite beauty products?

CHARLOTTE: I’m quite a simple girl when it comes to beauty products, but really love my products from Kiehl’s and Origins for my skin routine. My go-to for makeup is Bobbi Brown. My biggest obsession is with fragrances both for me and my house.  The obsession is so bad Cali has banned me from buying candles, oils, perfume, Oud and entering the shop Rituals lol.

A-CHOICES: Who are your favourite fashion designers?

CHARLOTTE: I don’t really have one, to be honest, but when it comes to the high street, Zara has all my money for both Cali and me! Tom Ford always makes me look twice at their shoes ☺ 

A-CHOICES: How did you handle the lockdown due to the Covid 19?

CHARLOTTE: This may be an unpopular opinion, but for an introvert that works way too many hours, the lockdown was a blessing for Cali and me.  I was very happy to be at home and was forced to slow down.  This would never have happened otherwise.  I rested like I have never rested before and had time for my creativity to breathe.  I designed new products during this time, re-imagined and re-launched my tutoring company, and made significant progress on our animation.  I will look back on these times with happy memories and feeling at peace.

Author: Gbenga Teejay Okunlola

London, UK

teejayok@gmail.com

14 COMMENTS